During his reign, Ibrahim Pasha, who succeeded his father Muhammad ‘Ali as governor when the latter became ill, continued his father’s policies in education. The reign of ‘Abbas Pasha, who succeeded his paternal uncle in November 1848 for six years, saw, however, a great decline in education and the closing of many of the schools that had been opened. Despite this, the Turkish language maintained its status in education during his reign.
‘Abbas Pasha was more sincere in his loyalty to the Ottoman Empire than either his uncle or the latter’s father. Consequently, he wished to impose on his civil servants a closer adherence to the norms of the Sublime Porte (the government in Istanbul) in terms of the rules for wearing the tarbush, official uniform,26 and the shaving of beards,27 and issued instructions to that effect.
In June 1849, new arrangements for education were instituted under which ‘Abbas Pasha united the military schools and attached them to the War Office while the other schools were attached to the Schools Office. In the administrative and military schools that graduated civil servants, he wished to enroll, for the most part, Sons of Turks. In the statutory regulations issued on 25 Jumada al-Akhira 1265/18 May 1849, he declares it to be his command that “given that of those who study in these schools some will become officers in the armed forces and others engineers and in these occupations will be before the eyes of the public, those who enter these schools must be fit, strong, of handsome appearance, and in good health.” In his second order, dated 12 Dhu al-Qa‘da 1265/30 September 1849, he states that “it is preferable that the students enrolled in these schools be the sons of Mamluks and Turks.”28
In 1850, ‘Abbas Pasha closed a number of the schools founded by his grandfather Muhammad ‘Ali. These included the mubtadayan and tajhiziya schools and the School of Languages. The Engineering School, on the contrary, was accorded his special attention, and the mubtadayan and tajhiziya schools were incorporated into it. This school continued to pursue its educational activities under its principal ‘Ali Mubarak, while Turkish was taught there by Osman Nuri Effendi, Hamdi Effendi, and Abdulgafur Effendi.29
As the new educational programs continued under the rule of Sa‘id Pasha, which started in June 1854, the teaching of Turkish maintained its status in the existing schools, where, in the case of the military schools, the preference for Turkish students and Turkish speakers that had first appeared under ‘Abbas continued. Thus, at the military school in Cairo, Turkish and Persian were taught,30 and at the military school in Alexandria, where it was preferred that students be sons of Mamluks, Turks, and others who spoke Turkish, Turkish and Persian were also taught. Among the textbooks used were llm-i hdl (Catechism), the Tuhfe-i Vehbi (Vehbi’s Rhyming Dictionary), and the Pend-e Attar (The Counsels of Attar). At the same school, the students studied the naskh, thuluth, and riq‘a scripts.
The idea of opening schools for the broader population in imitation of the Turkish ahali mektepleri (popular schools) in Istanbul, to which thought had first been given under Ibrahim Pasha,31 arose again under Sa‘id Pasha, when they were named madaris ahliya. Thus it was decreed under a draft law (tertibname) prepared in February 1855 that ten such schools should be opened in each of the various districts into which Ottoman Cairo was divided, plus Bulaq and Old Cairo, and that local children should be admitted to these without any restrictions (meaning that the conditions imposed on entrance to the official schools would not be observed). These four-year schools set forth only two conditions, imposed alike on Sons of Arabs and Sons of Turks who wished to study in them, and those were cleanliness and good health. The curricula set for these schools indicate that education in them gave priority to the Turkish language, that the Turkish teacher was normally the principal and chief instructor, and that Persian was taught too, Turkish being taught from the third grade with Persian added at the fourth. The aim of these schools was to spread education among the local people and raise their cultural level, as well as to prepare students to become craftsmen or merchants.
It was requested that the Turkish books set for study in these schools be the ilm-i hdl (Catechism), the Durr-i yekta (The Unique Pearl), the Birgivi-i §erif, and various books on history and literature, and that the Persian books should be the Tuhfe-i Vehbi (Vehbi’s Rhyming Dictionary) and the Pend-e Attdr (The Counsels of Attar). The children were also coached in the basics of geography and the history of Egypt and of the Ottoman Empire.32
As Sa‘id Pasha became preoccupied with the army and other affairs, most prominently the Suez Canal project, the local-schools project was put on hold, to be realized only under his successor, Isma‘il Pasha.
World History
